A Life In Music: Roy Williams

A mighty influencer. You Tube kids, you don't know you're born. 

In this edition I'm talking with an extraordinary, super-capable, veteran music pro from the Black Country of the UK, who has, quietly, had a massive influence on music making in this neck of the woods and far, far beyond. 

Roy was one of the team that launched the legendary JBs in Dudley, where anybody who was anybody simply had to play. Then he went on to managing, sound mixing, often for a lifetime friend, Robert Plant. and just doing an awful lot for an awful lot of people, simply because it was the right thing to do. 

But it's the sidelines that make this conversation so interesting - the by ways, the diversions, and the way he frequently drops hints and prompts about interesting music areas - areas that eventually emerge as having been profoundly influenced by him. And, of course, the stories.

This is a companion blog piece to go with the Roy Williams Lives in Music Podcast. You can jump to all the podcast episodes here - there are 18 other Lives in Music available right now - or scroll down to listen to the embedded player on this page. 

Photo credit: Suzy Gallier

Links

Robert Plant website
JBs Dudley facebook page
Saving Grace 2019 review

Lives in Music

The Lives in Music series celebrates people who have spent a lifetime in music. They may be famous; they may be people who have spent their lives working in the background for the love of it. They all have stories. Lives in Music is a Radio To Go production.
The intro and outro music in this series comes from the great bass player Mike Hatton, who you can hear interviewed in series 1, here. 'Everything Changes' is included in his excellent 2019 album 'Bassic Salvation'. 

The Podcast

Published in Series 2  (series 1 episodes listed here)

1 - Brian Travers of UB40
2 - Ricky Cool
3 - Mark 'Foxy' Robinson of the CBSO
4 - Roy Adams
5 - Gavin Monaghan of Magic Garden studios 
6 - John Mostyn
7 - Stewart Johnson: taking UK Country back across the pond
8 - Dave Pegg of Fairport Convention
9 - Roy Willams
10 - Simon Duggal (Simon & Diamond, Apache Indian, Shania Twain, Desi Beats)


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A Life in Music: Ricky Cool

Fifty years with a buzzcut

Ricky Cool is a music veteran... who adores vintage music. He's a walking encyclopedia of US roots music, and he's no slouch about the UK music scene over the past 50 years. 

In this episode, l get schooled about harmonica playing, and we get a fascinating look at what it meant to be in bands struggling to get ahead through the 70s, 80s, 90s, and on into this century. Things are - different - now. 

The latest incarnation of Ricky's band, Ricky Cool and The In Crowd, is a very slick and entertaining operation, which harks back over 50 years to the mid-60s days of ska and organ groove.  Be warned: there's one teeny little bit of louche behaviour described. A swear word. But it's not sweary.  

Links

Ricky Cool's website for history and gig updates

Historic music links in the podcast
Muddy Waters wiki (McKinley Morganfield)
Howling Wolf wiki (Chester Burnett)
Howling Wolf - Smokestack Lightning
Barrett Strong wiki
Tommy Tucker - Hi Heel Sneakers
Sonny Boy Willamson - Bring It On Home
Sonny Terry and Brownie McGhee - Long Way From Home
Jesse Fuller - San Francisco Bay Blues
Tiny Bradshaw - Train Kept A Rollin'
Nappy Brown - Don't Be Angry
Bob Wills and His Texas Playboys - San Antonio Rose
Louis Jordan - Caldonia
Roy Milton and His Solid Senders - Hop Skip and Jump

UK Folk (and associated) links

Dave Cartwright wiki
Bill Caddick - John O'Dreams Live

The Destroyers feat Mick Howson - Kalinka
Nic Jones - Canadee-i-o
Diz Dizley - It had To Be You

Lives in Music Podcast

The Lives in Music series celebrates people who have spent a lifetime in music. 

They may be famous; they may be people who have spent their lives working in the background for the love of it. 

But they all have stories. 

The intro and outro music in this series comes from the great bass player Mike Hatton, who you can hear interviewed in series 1, here. 'Everything Changes' is included in his excellent 2019 album 'Bassic Salvation'. Follow the album link for more :-)

Stream Ricky's podcast here 

Published in Series 2  (series 1 episodes listed here)

1 - Brian Travers of UB40
2 - Ricky Cool
3 - Mark 'Foxy' Robinson of the CBSO
4 - Roy Adams
5 - Gavin Monaghan of Magic Garden studios 
6 - John Mostyn
7 - Stewart Johnson: taking UK Country back across the pond
8 - Dave Pegg of Fairport Convention
9 - Roy Willams (JB's, Little Acre, Weapon of Peace, Robert Plant)

10 - Simon Duggal (Simon & Diamond, Apache Indian, Shania Twain, Desi Beats)

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West Midlands Rock Royalty at the Robin - Jim's Jam

Celebrating one of the greats...

I blogged about Jim Hickman in 2014. Jim was one of those singers: big, loving, soulful. That post (read it here) is a potted history of the best of Black Country music from back in the day. 

Jim wasn't doing well when we talked: drawers full of scary medication. But he rallied and went back out on the road. Things were good, his voice was right there, and all his years of craft and experience showed in his performances.

Shockingly, he passed away, days after a 2017 New Year's Day gig. His funeral was rammed, a testament to how loved he was. 

Now, there's something grand and happy, this coming Sunday: the Jim Jam, set for Sunday 11th June, to celebrate Jim's life. I doubt we'll ever see such a gathering of old and new-school West Midlands talent in one place ever again.

West Midlands Rock Royalty

The Jim Jam takes place next Sunday at the Robin 2 in Bilston, from 3pm. 

Just take a look at the poster. That's some line up. More acts are coming; there will be surprise guests. If you ever enjoyed Little Acre, or ZooQ, the Honeydrippers with Robert Plant and Ricky Cool, or more recently the Little Band, you should go.  

This gig is to set up to do three things: firstly to remember and celebrate Jim; secondly, to raise money for research into heart disease, which was what took him away; and thirdly to have a bloody good time listening to great musos, all friends and contemporaries of Jim's.

This is proper West Midland old-school rock royalty. I can't wait. I am hoping – no promises – to capture some of the performances for Brum Radio. But when it's live, there are no guarantees. If it works out, it would a lovely little extra to mark and honour Jim. 

We marked his passing on Brum Radio last January this way:




And I hope to take it a little bit further on Sunday. We'll see. Can't wait...

Tickets for the Jim Jam are £8 in advance from The Robin 2 website, here

You might like to check this post out too: the JBs book. Jim's stomping ground.

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I still do radio stuff on Brum Radio, a volunteer-run internet station. Listen online here; download the Brum Radio app here. My Brum Radio page is here; scroll down for all the shows. 

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The JB's book. Dudley cool.

People make places. 

It's only when you look back that you realise. You sail along with your crew, deep in the moment. You deal with hassles, fix problems, file away a bit of quiet satisfaction when it goes well, and savour the moments when things really click. But you don't get the perspective until later. 

Say you were in a band, and you check back on those recordings of a 25 years back, when you were young and smoking hot... Or you played in a particularly sharp football team. Or you sang, you really sang. 

70s heroes: Jim Hickman and Little Acre. Bostin.

The day after Glastonbury wound up, I went to Lower Gornal to meet Jim Hickman. 40 years ago, Hickman was the lynchpin of a killer band that came so, so close to getting there: Little Acre. They had impeccable credentials and terrific Black Country and Birmingham connections. As is so often the case, success and ultimate failure was driven by factors well out of the band's control. Little Acre had a rotating personnel of up to ten, which lead to crowded stages and small returns from gigs. But they were one of the UK's very first successful blue-eyed soul bands. Working in that chronological gap between Rock and Punk, they had a lot of room to move.

Jim was a bass player and powerhouse singer. He's getting on now, could be healthier, but the voice is still there. We met up, caught up... and talked for hours. 

I think you were the first band we pulled into the old BRMB to do a session. All of you, in one tiny studio, recording backing tracks live to stereo, bouncing down if we had to, and then adding vocals. 

I remember the night very well, it was fabulous. We put the tracks on a private album, just for old friends. Mostly it was a cassette of a reunion gig at the Coach and Horses, Willenhall. Roy Williams did a fabulous job on it, on reel to reel. And the BRMB session tracks.

I'm glad they survived! Very little BRMB stuff did. Tell me how the band came together.

I'd just come back from Italy – we'd gone out as a band called State Express, to do 15 days. We stayed three years. We were based in Turin. Three of us came back, two stayed, I did a normal job for a year and when the other two came back, we got together with a few other people in a cellar in Upper Gornal. It went from there, other people came in, some left... 

Tell me something. I remember UK soul bands in the 60s. Mostly they were, frankly, embarrassing. Guys trying to sound like Otis, and failing miserably. Same with the blues bands. If you dig out very early Stones R'n'B cuts, they're pretty awful. But by the 70s, things seemed to have sorted themselves out. You weren't the only ones... but you were one of the bands that hit that spot. Can you explain why?

Influences. Little Acre, as a band of people, enjoyed each other's company. We liked each other. We liked what we were doing. And State Express, the first band, used to back all the soul acts that came over – James and Bobby Purify, Edwin Starr, Sam and Dave... loads of them. And that's where I learned a lot. One of my favourite ladies was Inez Foxx. We did a fabulous tour with her. She was a fantastic Hammond player. Really, really nice. And we did Mocking Bird, and I sang Charlie's part. It used to change on the night, and she insisted that it changed. Experiment with it!

So you got some groove right from the source.

They'd explain things. You'd get this rhythm... 'think of it this way: one foot on the pavement, one foot in the gutter'. Boom–tschk, boom-tschk. They'd use these analogies and you'd get it. 

Now it's gone worldwide

That's the web. Here's a story about the web....I played with Ricky Cool and the Rialtos after Little Acre. Ricky's still going; lovely man. We did a reunion with the Rialtos a couple of years back, at the Robin Hood in Bilston. There was Ricky Cool with the Rialtos, the Big Town Playboys and the Hoola Boola Boys. A night for Ricky, fabulous guys. We were sat in the dressing room having a drink. And all of a sudden the door bursts open and Robert - Robert Plant - walks in, cursing us. 

'You didn't tell me you were bloody playing tonight!' 

Cos the Rialtos were the Honeydrippers for one tour, you see. 

'We didn't know you were in the country!'

'Well, I gotta get up and do something!' 

Which he did; he played for an hour. Anyway, I went to the bar to get a drink, and the place was rammed. There were people there I hadn't seen for years. And I asked a few of them how they knew this was going on... and it was on the net. Great night, and we all got a good wedge. 

Little Acre came to an end – and we'll come to that – but along the way, they recorded with Bob Lamb, in the same King's Heath bedsit studio he used for the first UB40 album. So in a way, they bridged from the soulful sixties right up to the stroppy late seventies; as they were winding down, UB40 were winding up. And their paths crossed in the same studio. 

We recorded some really good stuff. We used to go over, and get him out of bed...

So what happened with Little Acre? You should have made it. You were plenty good enough. 

We were playing the right places in London, we were lined up with a manager, he'd got Atlantic Records nicely warmed up. And then, punk hit. And everybody wanted a punk band. And of course, just before us, there'd been a band called Kokomo. They'd made it hard for other bands like us. A couple of them were a bit starry. So nobody wanted big line-ups.

I think that the industry always wants new kids, not only so they can present the next big thing, but being very cynical, because they can sign them cheap on dodgy contracts. You guys had been knocking around for ten years or so. 

But kids today aren't that stupid.

I've heard a few stories... But that was basically it?

It was sad at the time. We were talking to Mercury Records as well; Chris Rea, bless him, had introduced us. And it all went Pete Tong too. 

To cut a long story short, two members of the band were detained at her Majesty's pleasure for three months, just as punk came in, and that was enough to lose the impetus.

So you carried on working?

Yes. I was with Ricky Cool and the Rialtos, and then Zoo-Q, and then I started writing my own material. And I went off and did other things. The music's not a career. I just write the songs. Now we (Jim and Dave Lowe) work on a laptop, with a time signature, an acoustic guitar, and vocals - I very rarely do retakes. Dave Lowe does the rest.

Its not for everyone, to stay performing or to carry on writing. 

No, I don't think it is. You're part of a jigsaw puzzle, and you don't have control over most of the pieces. So at the end of the day, it's luck. If they out there doh like it, it doh matter how much work you put in to it. 

The conversation wound on. We'd both been watching bits of Glastonbury on the beeb. Robert Plant and Dolly Parton were the subjects – the topics were of survival and craft. Jim was and is a fine musician. He's worked with Plant, and a host of others who went on to great success. 

So do you feel bad about Little Acre getting that close and not making it?

No, no I don't. I have fabulous memories. We did these gigs... some gigs, we only did three numbers. We'd start on a funk groove and stick there. The crowd went with it. I feel very privileged to have been there. It was a fabulous time. But you, know, some of the young bands now... it's such a pleasure to see them too.

It's interesting to look back at the 70s. The early years were a bit... vague. Progrock and Psychedelia had had a good run; Heavy metal was splintering to sub genres; the British Blues Boom had run its course too. The Beatles were over; the Stones were faltering again. Glamrock was big. Image started to really matter. In the middle of all this, a host of bands tried out different grooves, before punk upset the apple cart. Little Acre had their day in the sun, but it should have gone on for longer.

 

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Cultivating precious talent in Gavin's Garden

Gavin Monaghan's Magic Garden recording studio has quietly grown into a powerhouse production centre, simply by concentrating on doing things well. Really well. 

When you visit a recording studio for the first time, more often than not finding the place is a bit of an adventure. Studios are tucked away in basements, shoehorned into warehouses, carved out of unlikely spaces in industrial estates, squeezed into odd bits of residential homes… It’s all very hidden and exceptions are rare. It’s only in colleges and, sadly, now rarely at radio - like the old Pebble Mill BBC studios - that you’ll walk into something open, airy, shinily well maintained, and above all, obvious for all to see.

So it was with Gavin Monaghan’s Magic Garden, arguably the most consistently successful outfit in the West Midlands. It took me half an hour of driving around odd bits of industrial north Wolverhampton, and even then Gavin had to come out and find me – he’s not on anywhere you’ll find on Google maps or your satnav, and that’s the way he likes it. 

Gavin presides over an operation which has turned out some magnificent work in his 21 years as studio manager and producer: The Twang, Scott Matthews, Editors, Robert Plant, Ocean Colour Scene, Carina Round, Nizlopi, and a host of local names including Khaliq, The Destroyers, Guile, Paul Murphy, and Ben Drummond – who was recording when I dropped by, and who will be the subject of a later post on this blog when everything is mixed.  

Vintage tech lust object

There’s not a whole lot of of room in Gavin’s place, and that’s partly because he collects kit - rather a lot of it - and lovingly refurbishes it. His pride and joy is a 1938 Neumann microphone, which he dug up on eBay; but there are classic pieces of kit everywhere you look. 

Vintage kit fetishists can get their kicks reading the kit list on his Myspace blog. 

Notwithstanding all the appeal of gorgeous old equipment, the heart of Gavin's system is a Protools rig. Above and beyond the love of kit, there’s a love of the creative process. And in the teeth of a howling recession, things are looking good

First question, Gavin: How’s business?

Booming. It’s very busy. There’s always been a steady flow of really talented people coming thought here, I’m pleased to say.

And this comes to you how? Word of mouth?

Yes. I don’t advertise. I’m also quite selective of who I work with. It’s hard to put your finger on what makes that happen, but I’m glad it has. It’s nice that current artists come in as well – we’ve still got stuff on and off the radio all the time - I see that as a continuation, and I try to embrace change as it comes along. But… a good song’s a good song. 

I talked with Jon Cotton at Artisan about six months ago, and he pointed out that the tiny studios have now simply disappeared, because people can work with multi-track software on their laptops, and the big studios are scrapping for movie business. So that kind of means that reputation counts for an awful lot.

Yes. You’re only as good as the people you work with. If I get a great band to work with, I’m at my best. If I get somebody… not so great … they there’s not a lot you can do with that. I do a lot of research. I listen to a lot of brand new music. I try to uncover gems. I’m always all over the internet. I approach bands that I hear and like. If I hear something than inspires me, I get in touch. And I try and put as much effort into a job like that as I would with a major album.

That can’t be cost-effective, Gavin…

I don’t care. I’m not doing this for the money. Never have been. 

On the other hand, we’re sitting here, surrounded by squaziliions' worth of vintage kit, which doesn’t come cheap… 

Gavin (chortles)

… but you’ve got Protools up there as your main system.

I like classic sounds, but you’ve got to embrace what’s going on now. So we’ve got all the modern stuff that you’d want. But it’s a good combination. In an ideal world, everybody would still be recording to tape, and perfecting their craft to the point where you wouldn’t need to endlessly edit your stuff to get it on the radio. Having said that, I’m more than happy.

But I think new cheap kit has made a big difference for a lot of bands. They can get their ideas sorted at home, working on their laptops, and recording acoustically where possible…

Sometimes we’ll work with what they’ve already started in their home studio. We end up keeping some of it – I love that. It brings interesting textures into the recordings.

Capacity is a problem here, isn’t it?

Well, we’ve had all 18 of the Destroyers in…

The chat moved on through technology, music quality and sound quality.

I work with music fidelity for a living. My job is to capture the best possible signal. But if it’s going to be reduced to mp3, and that’s how people are going to hear it, then I’ve got to make the best possible mp3 I can possibly make. 

I had a very interesting conversation a while back about distortion in mastering. Most people want to capture the maximum possible volume, with the minimum possibly dynamic range. So part of that process is to distort it, to clip it, so it’s as loud as it can be on radio.

But radio compresses everything anyway…

They use Optimod, yes. A lot of bands and record companies, if you give them something with dynamic range, will say ‘It’s not as loud as the Arctic Monkeys’ – it’s part of the culture. It’s part of the trend, Music is a fashion-based industry. So if that’s the trend, I’ve got to make my masters the best distorted masters I can!

So once Ben Drummond’s mixed and finished up, who’s next?

We’ve got a band called Arrows – a brilliant band. We’ve just done a Radio 1 exclusive with a Birmingham band called Jaws. I’m doing an album with Johnathan Day, a brilliant singer-songwriter. Paul Murphy’s coming in to do his next album. We’re slated to be working with – don’t want to jinx it, but I’m hopeful – with Dry The River. Hope so. My management’s talking to them and various other people.

Management? How does that work?

I have a manager for my production work. I’m a studio owner, but my job is music producer. There are agencies similar to artist management, who manage producers, My manager’s Sandy Robertson from World’s End in Los Angeles. He’s got about 40 producers and engineers on his books. 

How did that relationship come about?

He liked some of the albums that I’ve worked on. The first Twang album – he loved it. He wanted the Twang for another one of his producers, but they wanted to work with me. And after he heard it, it went from there – he’d been listening to my stuff for a while.

But does he understand you and your range of production chops and styles?

I think he works with such a variety of producers… so, yes. I just want to be working all the time. For me it’s important to work with new bands, just as important as working with major label acts who can line your pockets. If I was in it for the money, I’d be a hell of a lot better off!

Gavin's Magic Garden Myspace page

Don’t you point that thing at me, pal. Snapper supreme Richard Shakespeare shares some thoughts.

Music Photographers: in the pit, hanging off the balcony, vilified by tour managers. A key part of the industry. 

I posted a year or so back (interviewing Bob Marley) about how useless and in the way a DJ is when he’s backstage at a gig. The only people who really should be backstage are those people who have a job to do. The rest is glory-hunting.

Photographers, for the most part, tread a delicate line. They may be have been invited to document the gig. They may be there to further their own careers. But sometimes they just need to go where they really shouldn’t, just to get that special shot. It calls for tact, diplomacy and sometimes a lot of brass neck.

Leominster-based Richard Shakespeare runs the wonderfully named Shakeypix, and has long and generously let me grab his work for this blog. I’ve watched him at work for the last two years or so. No spring chicken, he, but a great snapper. At gigs, he's everywhere - turning himself into a pretzel in the pit, upstage, downstage, in the balcony... smiling, deep in concentration, watching everyone and everything. I talked to him about the job. 

Why photography? 

"I’ve always had a love of image and form. I tend to see everything through a frame. My parents gave me a box brownie for Christmas. I was 8. Then I had a Prinz 110 from Dixons, bought with paper round money. It was nice and compact, but the quality was rather poor. At 15 I went on a course, one afternoon a week, at the local photography college. I picked up a 35mm SLR for the first time. I loved the old darkroom developing process. It went on from there." 

George Barnett and The Ninth Wave at the Yardbird, February 2012

The last time I watched Richard working, he was cheerfully squeezing himself through the crowd at a packed Birmingham boozer as his new charge George Barnett (of which more below) played a debut gig in the area. He was all smiles – a large, uninhibited, jovial presence, firing off shots of the crowd, the band, their friends and family. 

You don't make yourself invisible. Others do. What's your approach? 

"I see no point in being invisible. My clients tend to respond well to this. With a name like mine it's very hard not to be noticed. If a client wanted it otherwise I’d adapt."

When you went full-time, what kit did you buy? 

"It was in 2007. I decided to go with Canon or Nikon digital. The final decision was based on a pro snapper who used Nikon, but told me he wished he’d gone with Canon. So I soon found myself armed with 4 pro Canon DSLR's and a large selection of L lenses. For live work I travel light, packing all I need into a small sling style bag. A full blown shoot requires a serious number of bags, lenses, lights etc. This is where assistants come in – there’s always someone willing to give me a hand." 

Mendi Singh with Alternative Dubstep Orchestra, Mostly Jazz 2011

Studio work or live in the field?

"I don't have a studio. It’s too tame. And too costly. I’ve got all the kit I need to set up a studio anywhere, and locations are so much more interesting. Many bands send me their rough ideas and backdrops. I then go out and source locations to suit. Birmingham bands like to come here (Herefordshire) as it’s so different to the usual Digbeth/urban backdrop. Plus we all enjoy a meal and great banter in my kitchen afterwards." 

You shoot lots of stuff for the love of it. How can you make it pay? 

"Good question, it's not all about the money for me. I can work my prices to fit budgets. I used to do some live work for free to find new clients. That’s how I built up long term relationships. Being trusted is everything to me – that’s how you get the money shots that others miss.

Paul Murphy, Songwriters Cafe, Summer 2011

"! always look for the real person, not someone who’s aware of a camera in their space. I’ve been known to pull faces at someone onstage or dish out the odd insult when face to face in order to get a reaction. But I always follow it with a smile and a thank you." 

It’s a crowded field. Is there a sense of community or a sense of competition?

"It’s competitive, but I try not to enter that game. Each photographer will have their own style. Most UK music photographers have a lot of respect for each other. We share space and time: we’ll all chat before entering a pit, then whoever has the best spot will get their shots and move to give others a chance. I find that just a few London based snappers let the side down and fail to understand that mentality." 

Mark Magoo Robinson, Leftfoot 10th Anniversary Special

You have long-term relationships with bands like the Destroyers, the Misers and Goodnight Lenin. How does that work?

"There are many bands I’ve built up an understanding with. I’m rather lucky to have made so many musical friends.

"Goodnight Lenin came to me about 3 years ago. I was recommended by a mutual promoter friend. They were in the planning stages. The budget was tiny. I drove to Edgbaston and did an all-day shoot for the cost that just about covered the petrol. We all got on like a house on fire. About 3 months later they had their first live show, and I was invited along. At this point I had no idea what kind of sound they had. I loved the music and the rest is history. I have now become the band archivist and been at their sides for nearly every gig."

Goodnight Lenin on tour, March 2012

 "The snapper role was then combined with that of tour manager last year, which sadly has had to go. I love those boys like the sons I never had - I have two daughters. The deal is all about budget. As a band’s kitty grows then my fee will reflect their situation. This way we can grow and reach our goals together. To be taken on tour by a band opens lots of great opportunities to get exclusive one off’s. These days I would rather do that than shoot the actual show, although I do both." 

What about big contracts? 

"I’m not sure that I want large contracts. They can end up being a chain around your neck. I worked with Florence And The Machine, shooting a number of the early shows while they were on the rise. They have always been good to me, and I love them dearly, but now for me the machine is the industry, not the band, which saddens me."

"To be honest, when you’ve got to jump through hoops to get a photo pass, I just can’t be bothered. I’d rather just move on. But I have picked up some interesting work off the back of the music work. Last Summer I did a shoot for Echo Falls the wine company, who wanted product placement at the Isle Of Wight Festival. Life is never dull!" 

Can we talk about your health? Say no and I won't. But to me it's part of the story. 

"Sure. I have always been healthy. Last summer, with 16 festivals covered and two still to go, I got a life-changing shock. My age must have kicked in and sent my body a warning message. I had a stroke, which left me on a hospital ward for a week, followed by months of recovery and reflection. Many of my industry friends like Goodnight Lenin, The Misers, Jo Hamilton with Jon Cotton and fellow photographer Wayne Fox with Sara paid me regular hospital and home visits. My dear friend Tiffy B (she's worked with Lady Gaga and CeeLo Green) even dropped in after coming off tour with Tricky. So many people sent cards and Facebook messages. But it was clear that I’d have to change my working life." 

But you’re back. Now tell me why you decided to go manage a band. At your age and all.

"As I recovered from my illness, I was weak and rusty - I’d gone a month without picking up a camera. I couldn’t drive for 6 weeks. I was not well enough to travel far from Herefordshire; Birmingham was too far. I looked around for a local artist and offered a free shoot to keep my hand in.

"The artist I found was the then 17 year old George Barnett, a former Young Drummer Of The Year. George invited me to a gig at The Bull in Ludlow, not far from my home - my first gig in ages. Yes, it was a pub gig; yes, it was not the best venue, and, yes, there were not hundreds people there, but WOW … he blew me away." 

"A big talent, right under my nose. A week or so later we arranged a photo shoot with George and his band The Ninth Wave. The first set of photos were in the bag. After a few more meetings George asked me if I would consider being his manager. A couple of days of days later, I decided to take him up on his offer. Since that time my world has moved to its next phase. I still take photographs, and recently went around the UK with Goodnight Lenin with Beth Jeans Houghton as support. My tour managing is on hold, whilst I concentrate on my new role of developing a very special talent, and I’m sure in years to come he will be a National treasure. The debut George Barnett album 17 Days (here's the bandcamp link) was released on 12th March 2012." 

What about favourite shots and subjects? 

"So many! My most well known shot is a live one of Florence taken at Shepherds Bush Empire. The London tog’s were all squashed into the pit with not even room to pass each other.

I had snapped most of the tour and had sorted out with the lighting guy to give me more light in the first song, as we were only able to shoot the first 3 songs. Lighting on Flo had been very dark. Not wanting to enter the pit scrum I decided to sit on the side of the stage, and so took my shots from a different angle to the others. It wasn’t until I got home I realised that the money shot was in the bag. So that was a bit special.

"I have a lovely one of Carl Barat (Libertines/Dirty Pretty Things) taken in the green room after a London showcase that hangs in my home. Carl said he couldn’t see it being a good shot, but after looking at the result he soon changed his mind." 

"An early Tinie Tempah taken in his Rainbow dressing room is another favourite."

"I also love an unusual snap of Robert Plant (see this at the top of this post), taken backstage at the Mostly Jazz festival last summer.

"Robert had just flown in from the USA and was very tired, but he still had enough fun left in him to pick up a jug of flowers and hold it up whilst gesturing with one finger that there is only one Plant."  

"Roisin Murphy (ex Moloko) will always have wallspace in my home, but my favourite shot of her was taken on Moloko’s final tour, by my daughter Laura with a happy snaps camera and shows Roisin jumping on my back."

Links: 
Shakeypix
George Barnett website  

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